Director Tomas Alfredson
Genre Crime | Drama | Mystery
Cast Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Val Kilmer, Chloë Sevigny
Rating R
Release Date October 20th, 2017
“Detective Harry Hole investigates the disappearance of a woman whose pink scarf is found wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman.”
From talented director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), The Snowman is an intense crime drama centered around a woman's disappearance, leaving no evidence behind aside from her scarf left wrapped around an ominous snowman. The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same name from Norwegian crime-writer Jo Nesbø. The book is part of Nesbø's detective Harry Hole series of books. After the initial trailer dropped anticipation for the film was through the roof thanks to the source material as well as the cast, not to mention a trailer that set the tone for what looked to be a very dark thriller. The cast for The Snowman includes Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Val Kilmer, Chloë Sevigny, and J.K. Simmons.
Top notch cinematography and an effective score can't save The Snowman from greedy studio heads squandering the potential for an epic crime thriller. I feel like I need to start this review with a disclaimer pointing out the fact that I have yet to read the Jo Nesbø crime novel that this film is based on, thus I will not be comparing it in any way to its paperback counterpart. With that being said, The Snowman wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. The film has been absolutely shredded by critics and users alike since its release and on one hand I get it, but I also feel like anyone who read the book had unrealistic expectations. The tone feels true to a Norwegian crime novel as it is very dark and ominous, completely free of any joy or humor. This is of course by design. As I mentioned the cinematography is fantastic, taking full advantage of the snowy backdrop. I was very impressed by the soundtrack/score which I felt contributed nicely to the overall feel of the film. I also enjoyed the ending more than I thought I would and I felt like the film came to a solid conclusion. I know that many fans of the book felt like the ending was rushed and sort of came out of left field but that is extremely common for a book that makes the transition to the big screen. There simply isn't enough screen time to include everything crucial to the story. I also found myself oddly intrigued by the Norwegian influenced soundtrack which was generally upbeat and catchy.
Now the cons absolutely outweigh the pros, which is how do I say this, not good. One of the most glaring blemishes on a film that had very high expectations is a screenplay that felt rushed and basically full of holes. I can't even begin to count how many scenes transitioned in such a way that it seemed they were simply running out of shooting time that day. During a few scenes, characters would be mid-conversation and one would just get out of the car and walk off for no apparent reason- very strange. The pacing also struggled because of this and I really felt the 2-hour runtime. The Snowman had a TON of potential and as far as I can tell, some bigwigs at the studio, who felt the film absolutely had to have a late October 2017 release, stole from audiences what could have been an epic crime thriller. With all that being said, The Snowman still managed to piece together a decent enough backstory to shock viewers once the pieces came together.
The cast for The Snowman is top tier, no question about that. Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson lead the way, with supporting roles from the likes of Val Kilmer and J.K. Simmons. Michael Fassbender is a very talented actor even though he has starred in some stinkers over his career. Fassbender does well in the role of the often disheveled and troubled detective Harry Hole, but I didn't feel as though he truly invested himself in the character. I just never quite felt like Fassbender made that transition and actually became Harry Hole, sort of speak. Rebecca Ferguson was very convincing in her role and I felt like she delivered the best overall performance. I'm honestly not quite sure how I felt about Val Kilmer's role in the film- it was strange to say the least. I would need to read the book to try and get a bit more backstory on him prior to making my final conclusion. J.K. Simmons was very solid although he really didn’t get very much screen time. I also really liked the role Chloë Sevigny took on, as it was crucial to the portion of the film where things began to come together.
The Snowman isn't the worst film of 2017 contrary to popular belief, but it is absolutely a letdown. A few of the more graphic scenes definitely stuck with me and may have slightly altered my sleeping patterns last night. Jo Nesbø set the table with a novel that already has a significant fan base and the studio got greedy and allowed a golden opportunity to slip through their fingers. It set the tone well and had some very impactful scenes but they just seemed to be few and far between. Director Tomas Alfredson said in an in interview that he wasn't surprised the film has been deemed a failure because it was in fact rushed to be released. It reminds me of the epic fail of HBO's True Detective Season 2, which had hoped to live up to the lofty standard set by the first season, only to fail due to a rushed timeline. HBO admitted to the misstep and gave writers an abundance of time to work on the 3rd season. I honestly do feel that the right people were put in place to make The Snowman as good as the trailer made it out to be, but the obstacles it encountered proved to be too much to overcome. I have zero doubt that if I had gone into the theater having first read the book I would be livid, but nonetheless I plan to grab the book at some point to see just how much the film decided to disappoint Nesbø fans. This is still a watchable crime thriller that I can suggest people check out as a cheap rental but it would be hard to justify a visit to the theater.
